Travel? Why Not! More Scotland, The Western Highlands

I'm thinking that if I could re-choose my nationality (yes, we are given that choice as our souls are being embedded into a fetus just prior birth. Most people have forgotten, I am not most people) I might choose Scottish. The countryside is gorgeous, they make Whisky, have a town called Keith and they have one of Britain's most scenic train journeys, the West Highland Line.

Travel times
7-8 hours: NYC to LHR
Overnight: London to Fort William Scotland by Caledonian Sleeper
90 minutes: Fort William to Mallaig, ferry terminal to Isle of Skye
30 minutes: Mallaig to Armadale, Skye by ferry, few departures
100 minutes: Uig, Skye to Tarbert, Isle of Harris
2.5 hours: Stornaway, Isle of Lewis to Ullapool, mainland Scotland
80 minutes: Ullapool to Inverness
1 hour: Inverness to Keith
4 hours: Keith to Stirling via Aberdeen
1 hour: Stirling to Edinburgh
4.5 hours: Edinburgh to London

Highlights
Travel by Train
Whisky Distillery tours
Edinburgh Whisky Experience if you don't have time to get thee to a distillery
Castles
Gardens

Sights
The highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis is located outside Fort William

• Highland Museum (free)
• Ben Nevis Distillery 
• Nevis Range Mountain Resort gondola to top of Aonach Mor
• West Highland Line Museum at Glenfinnan Station (small), 5 rail stops away
• Commando Exhibit at the Spean Bridge Hotel, 9 miles north of Ft. William

Mallaig a fishing port once famous for supplying kippers to the world

• a steam train from Ft. William to Malliaig, stops at Glenfinnan.
• ferry to Skye

Skye Official, Not official

• Armadale Castle ruins and gardens, Clan Donald
• Sea Life boat trips
• Dunvegan Castle
• Talisker Distillery

Close to Skye over a bridge is the small town of Kyle of Lochalsh and near that is the quite famous Eilean Donan Castle.

Outer Hebrides
The Isles of Harris and Lewis are actually one island, the northern portion is referred to as the Isle of Lewis and the southern part is referred to as the Isle of Harris.
Isle of Harris non official website

• Harris Tweed shops, plus a Harris Tweed Exhibition in Drinshader
• Archeological tours
• beautiful beaches
• lodge at the Amhuinnsuidhe Castle (tower house)

Isle of Lewis, non official website

• Neolithic standing stones
• Museum nan Eilean in Stornaway to be located in Lews Castle in 2015

Inverness Environs

• Glen Ord Distillery,  Muir of Ord
• Speyside Malt Whisky Trail
• Strathisla Distillery, a very pretty distillery in Keith, the whisky is used in Chivas Regal
• Brodie Castle
• Cawdor Castle and Gardens

Stirling

• Stirling Castle

 Edinburgh

• Botanic Garden
• Palace of Holyroodhouse
• Royal Yacht Britiannia

And back to London where I always find more to see.

Souvenirs

• Whisky
• Harris Tweed vest and maybe a hacking jacket
• wool sweaters
• Heather items

2014 Books

This year's book list. The (r) denotes a repeat read.

1. Carte Blanc, Jeffery Deaver; January; A James Bond Novel; Very good, worth reading, but he's no Ian Flemming.
2. Death of a Policeman, M.C. Beaton; February; Policeman Hamish Macbeth in the Scottish Highlands, aging formulaic series, but still enjoyable. There was a TV series in the late 1990s staring Robert Carlyle as Hamish.
3. Night Train to Lisbon(r), Pascal Mercer; April; Language Professor meets Portuguese woman in peril, buys Portuguese book, becomes intrigued by the author, takes train to Lisbon and searches for the back story of the authors life. He travels by train, what more could you ask for. The story of the fictional author's life is compelling as are most of the characters. They made a film of the book, the reviews are not good so don't see it before reading the book... or after.
4. Bryant and May on the Case, Christopher Fowler; May; Quirky Detectives investigating odd cases in London.
5. Rosanna, Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo; May; First of 10 Martin Beck (a fictional Swedish Police Detective) stories by a Swedish pair written in the 1960s. All the books were very quick reads. Mainly teamwork, hard work, experience and some luck solve these cases. Interestingly, in the 1960s the Swedish Police were acquiring Military hardware and once they had it were itching to use it no matter if there were other ways to solve an issue. Start with #1 and read them all.
6. The Man who went up in Flames, #2 Maj and Per; June
7. The Man on the Balcony, #3 Maj and Per; June
8. Naughty in Nice, Rhys Bowen; June
9. The Laughing Policeman, #4 Maj and Per; June
10. The Grand Tour, Agatha Christie; June - September; Postcards and letters from Ms Christie's travel with the Overseas Mission of the British Empire Exhibition. Most interesting thing I learned was she became an accomplished surfer. The difficulties of travel makes me glad for the improvements that have been made in that respect.
11. Travels with my Aunt(r), Graham Greene; July; I read this every summer. Aunt Agusta (his aunt) is quite amusing, there was a movie with Maggie Smith as the Aunt, miss it.
12. Hunt for the Southern Continent, James Cook; July; Abridged excerpts of the log book of his travels in the South Pacific, he sails past Staten Island, but not the forgotten borough of NYC. He includes technical bearings and headings which I looked up on the internet to understand.
13. Trains and Lovers, Alexander McCall Smith; July;
14. Monsieur Pamplemousse Aloft(r), Michael Bond of Paddington Bear Fame; July; The fifth in the series, all are quick reads and geared towards adults. Monsieur Pamplemousse always seems to gets himself into lots of embarrassing situations while trying to help others.
15. The Fire Engine that Disappeared, #5 Maj and Per; July 
16. Murder at the Savoy, #6 Maj and Per; August
17. The Abominable Man, #7 Maj and Per; 2 days in August
18. The Locked Room, #8 Maj and Per; August
19. Cop Killer, #9 Maj and Per; August
20. The Terrorists, #10 Maj and Per; August
21. The Grave Maurice, Martha Grimes; August
22. Scrambles amongst the Alps(r), Edward Whymper; September; An interesting travelog of his attempts up Alps and the first ascent by him of the Matterhorn in Switzerland.
23. The Restraint of Beasts(r), Magnus Mills; September; An Englishman leads a pair of Scots south of the border to put up fencing and bury bodies.
24. Rising to the Occasion, Hazard and Pinfold; October
25. The Great American Weekend book; October; Just browsed through it
26. Turn Right at Machu Picchu, Mark Adams; November; See the end of this post for a synopsis.
27. Return of the Thin Man, Dashiell Hammett; November; Screenplays for 2 more Thin Man movies staring Nick and Nora Charles. Some interesting stage directions. TCM movie synopsis for After and Another. Mr. Hammett also wrote the novel, The Maltese Falcon.